In the fire-fighting art a booster fire hose is a preferred first-attack option for providing a rapid supply of fire suppressants such as water or other fluids while larger-volume hoses are being set up and pressurized with fluid (i.e., “charged”). The booster hose is often supplied with fluid by an auxiliary pump, and is typically coiled upon a rotatable drum of a booster reel that is mounted to a fire engine. The booster reel provides a fast and reliable way to dispense and rewind booster fire hose, and frequently includes an electric-powered mechanism to aid the dispensing and rewinding processes.
One class of booster hose is a UHP booster hose system, which operates at a much higher fluid pressure than typical booster hoses. In such systems operating fluid pressures of the booster hose can be on the order of about 1500 pounds per square inch (psi). This pressure in some cases is achievable in a matter of seconds, depending upon the pumping system employed to pump the fluid through the hose. These extreme pressures impose requirements upon the design of an associated booster reel. For example, with a charged UHP booster hose wrapped around a drum of the booster reel, extreme compression forces are generated by the hose and are exerted against the drum, potentially deforming or crushing the drum.
In addition, a charged UHP booster hose can expand in a general direction along an elongate axis of the drum, causing side disks of the drum that are intended to contain the hose on the drum to deflect and possibly become permanently deformed due to the force of the lateral hose expansion.
Furthermore, on some booster reels having a relatively small drum diameter a primary drive sprocket is connected to the side disks for coupling to a hose dispensing/rewinding mechanism of the booster reel. This drive sprocket can become misaligned with an associated motor sprocket of the dispensing/rewinding mechanism if the side disks deform as described above.
Booster reels typically include an axle upon which the drum rotates. A generally hollow fluid outlet connection is typically coupled to the axle and extends through an opening in the drum, the booster hose being connected to the outlet. Fluid for the hose is supplied to the booster hose through a fluid inlet portion of the axle that is in communication with the fluid outlet connection. Although this arrangement is satisfactory for general booster hose and booster reels, on UHP booster systems the aforementioned expansion of the UHP booster hose can exert significant force on the fluid outlet connection, causing portions of the fluid outlet connection and/or the axle to be deformed.
A further drawback of current booster reels is that they are, in general, laborious and expensive to assemble. There is a need for a booster reel that is capable of withstanding the forces exerted by UHP booster hose while also being relatively easy and economic to assemble.